The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 17-sep-54-Dole.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
French ufologist Aimé Michel notes that on October 17, 1954, in the suburb of Gray at the city of Dôle, at about 08:30 P.M., numerous residents noted a luminous object moving in the sky making use of lights. Its movement were tenuous at first, only a slight oscillation. But the bottom part of the craft, insists Michel, was periodically changing colors, going through green, then red, then yellow.
Each color remained the same for a few minutes.
After having hovered, the object gained distance, then came back, did the play of lights again, then, after 10 minutes, went away at a tremendous speed.
[Ref. aml4:] AIME MICHEL:
But the idea by Mr. Castou to plot all the sighting of the fla on a single map is nevertheless interesting. It gives for Bavic an unexpected result: this alignement goes from 7 spots (counting la Sierra de Gardunha) to 13 spots perfectly in line (two observations in the south of Dole, one on the departmental road 60 between Saint-Romain-sous-Gourdon and les Brosses-Thillot, one in Paray-le-Monial, a second observation in Gelles, one lastly at Orchamps).
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
|
October 17 [, 1954]
[... other cases...]
08:30 p.m.: Dôle (Jura):lumin.sph. of which the lower part periodically changed color
[... other cases...]
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Jura in Dôle on October 17, 1954 at 20:30 hours, in the suburb of Gray "many residents noticed a luminous object evolving in the sky producing a set of lights. Its movements were gentle at the beginning, a slight oscillation. But the lower part of the craft changed color periodically, passing from the green, with the red, then with the yellow. Each one of these colors remained constant during a few minutes. After having remained stationary, the object moved away, then returned, took again the play of lights during 10 minutes, then left at a vertiginous speed."
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "M.O.C. by Michel Aimé ** Arthaud 1958".
[Ref. lps1:] "LE PROGRES" NEWSPAPER:
The mystery of the famous ufos in the Jura
In his book "Les Mystères du Jura " published by De Borée publishers in the end of 2009, Alain Lequien, with an historian's approach, listed the observations of unidentified flying objects (ufos) in the department of the Jura. There was the red ball of fire of Poligny, [...] the close encounter of the third kind of Prémanon, the cigar of the schoolboys of Les Rousses, the multicoloured oscillating object of Dole, [...] the white and luminous phenomenon of Meussia, [...]
[Note: I only noted here the 1954 cases mentions from the article.]
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
*Oct. 17, 1954 - At 8:30 p.m. three witnesses in Dole Gray, Jura department, France reported watching a luminous object maneuver in the sky, changing colors for ten minutes. Each color lasted several minutes. It finally shot away at high speed. (Source: Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 187).
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case twice:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541017 | 17.10.1954 | Dole Gray | France | 20.30 | NL | |||||
| 19541017 | 17.10.1954 | Dole Gray | France | 20.30 | NL |
|
One may try an astronomical explanation, if one wishes to forget the particulars of the outbound and return followed by the fast departure - Should it be ignored? I doubt it.
The oscillations and color changes may suggest a star diffracted by ice crystals in the atmosphere, the fact that these colors are below the object resemble a "Venus pillar." But Venus went beyond the horizon at 06:00 p.m.
I would note that Mars was at the azimuth 202° - towards the South - and a low elevation of 16° But Mars is unlikely to diffract, change colors like a star, and a "Mars Pillar" has never been seen as far as I know.
The mention that the color change occurred every 10 minutes is not consistent either with what sometimes happens with low diffracted star.
So this thing remaines an "unidentified" to me; but its strangeness is not striking.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Dole, Jura, multiple, object, lights, colors, hovering, fast, wobble, green, red, yellow, duration
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 4, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 17, 2010 | Addition [lps1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | October 17, 2014 | Addition [nip1]. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet" previously. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | March 2, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | October 25, 2019 | Addition [aml4]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | May 13, 2022 | Addition [gqy1]. |
